1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for electronic commerce. More particularly, the invention relates to a method for electronic commerce using open cable, which enables electronic commerce such as home shopping through an open cable broadcast receiver of a home network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Open cable is a digital broadcast standard established by a U.S. private standard organization named ‘Cable Labs’. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has mandated that domestic digital cable broadcasters adopt this open cable standard. When digital cable broadcast standards such as open cable are instituted, it will be possible to provide a two-way exchange of information, and electronic commerce using a television is expected to blossom.
Television home shopping is an example of electronic commerce using television, which combines broadcast and distribution. More specifically, television home shopping directly connects a manufacturer to a user to provide merchandise at a reasonable price, and speedily increase distribution. A growing number of users prefer such a system to traditional in-store shopping.
At least two television home shopping payment methods are known. First, a user may directly telephone a home shopping service provider to provide payment information. Alternatively, the user may transmit payment information via a television which can receive a data broadcast.
In the first method, the user calls a telephone number indicated on a commercial of a home shopping screen to either transmit payment information (e.g., name, address, credit card number) by an Automatic Response Service (“ARS”), or to communicate directly with a telemarketer to transmit the payment information. In contrast, the second method is similar to home shopping using the Internet. Specifically, when connected with a broadcast service provider by a two-way communication telephone line, if the user wishes to purchase a product shown on the television screen, a window appears on the screen to enable the user to input the payment information and to transmit the payment information via a telephone line to a service provider.
However, these conventional methods have drawbacks. The first method, where the user directly telephones a broadcast service provider, has weak security because technology such as wiretapping may intercept the transmission of the payment information, and is also inconvenient to use because payment information has to be indicated every time a purchase is desired.
The second method, where the user inputs payment information on the screen of television, is inconvenient to use because payment information must be input on the television screen by use of a remote controller, rather than a computer keyboard. Further, the second method provides weak security, as the payment information is transmitted without encoding or with only simple encoding. Alternatively, if the television is connected via a cable modem to a service provider, rather than via a telephone-line, security can be relatively increased. However, a security program must be installed, and it is more difficult to use such a security program with a television (rather than with a computer), and therefore it is still difficult to maintain security. As another alternative, since it is easier to maintain security and connect to a service provider using a computer (rather than a television), a system that provides home shopping by connecting a television to a computer has also been considered. However, the computer has to be continuously connected to the television to support this method. As an aside, when using a computer, payment information, such as serial number of smart card, can be stored therein. However, the smart card must be securely kept.
In contrast, when using open cable, a POD module is inserted into an open cable broadcast receiver (e.g., a television) to normally receive an open cable broadcast. When data is sent to and received from a service provider, a pair of a unique host ID and a POD ID, generated by using a high-security method, are used. Accordingly, open cable is considered to be efficiently applicable to ah electronic commerce method such as a home shopping payment.